Recap: Milwaukee vs. Cincinnati

Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Edwin Encarnacion hit his third career grand slam as the Cincinnati Reds edged the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in the opener of a three-game series from Miller Park.

Jay Bruce hit a solo homer and drove in two for the Reds, who won their second in a row in the first of 10 consecutive road games. Joey Votto had an RBI in the win.

Edinson Volquez (1-1) got the win despite allowing all six Milwaukee runs on seven hits in five innings. Volquez gave up four walks and struck out four. Jared Burton, Arthur Rhodes and David Weathers each tossed a scoreless inning in relief, while Francisco Cordero worked around a walk in the ninth to record his second save of the season.

Yovani Gallardo (1-1) took the loss for Milwaukee after allowing seven runs in five innings. He gave up only three hits, one of which was Encarnacion's slam, and walked four with three strikeouts.

Corey Hart went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer for the Brewers, who have lost three in a row. J.J. Hardy also homered in the loss.

The Reds trailed by four runs, but charged in front with a six-run third inning -- with all the runs coming with two outs.

Willy Taveras and Chris Dickerson walked, and Votto followed with a single to plate a run. Brandon Phillips then worked a base-on-balls to load the bags, and Gallardo hit Bruce with a pitch to force in another run, keeping the bases filled.

Encarnacion then stepped up and, on the first pitch, sent a towering shot over the fence in left-center field.

"I was looking for something inside the strike zone, especially a fastball," Encarnacion said. "He was behind the count on other hitters and I knew he had to throw a strike. I just tried to be aggressive."

The grand slam capped the two-out rally, as the Reds suddenly had a 7-5 lead.

"I had a hard time explaining yesterday and I'm going to have a hard time explaining today too," said Brewers manager Ken Macha. "Two outs, nobody on in the third inning, a matter of five hitters, three walks and a hit- batsman...after the home run seven straight outs. I have a hard time explaining that."

Hardy's leadoff homer in the fifth got Milwaukee back within a run, but the Reds' bullpen kept the Brewers off the scoreboard the rest of the way. Burton tossed a scoreless sixth before Rhodes came on for the seventh and got Jason Kendall to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Weathers got into big trouble in the eighth, when Hart tripled with two outs. Weathers then walked Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, but he got Hardy to fly out to end the inning. Cordero shut Milwaukee down in the ninth to seal the win.

Fielder's run-scoring groundout in the first got the Brewers on the scoreboard, though Bruce's one-out solo homer in the second tied the game.

Milwaukee scored four times in the home half of the second to take control. Kendall drove in the first run with a single, which snapped an 0-for-15 slump he was on to begin the season.

Three batters later, Hart slammed a pitch over the fence in right-center field for a 5-1 Brewers lead.